On my annual end-of-August pilgrimage to Stowe VT, I decided to stop and ride the
Retreat Trails in Brattleboro. I've ridden them twice before. Once, ages ago with my son we wandered around the section by
Cedar St. and only a few years back I rode up from the Retreat Farm on
Morningside Trail. This time I decided to start from the entrance up on
Upper Dummerson Road.
It was a little weird at the start because the trail was roped off (no photo) but I ducked under the rope and rode uphill for a long stretch along the edge of a field. There were a short jaunt through the woods and over a bridge and I ended up in another field. My intention to take the Ice Road Trail all the way to the Pond. Once I hit the dirt trail tread in the woods, I realized my back tire pressure was low but I had no desire to ride back down to pump it up (I keep a pump in the car) so I forged on with caution...
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| short woods jaunt (there's a bridge ahead) |
But where next to go was a complete confusion and I ended up down on a lower section of
Morningside! There was no signage and no trail tread to follow over the fields.@$#@#@
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| lower section of Morningside |
But after riding back up and trying another choice I didn't end up on
Ice Road (my intention) but a well-traversed section of
Morningside. It was stunningly beautiful so I thought: what the heck - just enjoy the detour! :-)
I rode up on
Morningside and
Roundabout (not really sure where I was half the time!) but Idid finally end up at my intended destination: the Ice Pond.
The ride back down on Ice Road was freakin' awesome - single track with many sections of serious flow. It's a great place to ride and next year I plan on spending more time here.
Whetstone
Of course any visit to Brattleboro is not complete without a burger and beer at
Whetstone - it’s an old converted mill right on the river next to the railroad tracks - very cool!!
Trapp
I arrived at the
Trapp Family Lodge later than intended but I did get a short ride in on the easy lower trails. The evening sunlight on the beech trees was beautiful!!
